Michael Stevenson
The Smiles are Not Smiles
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Vilma Gold is pleased
to present the first London solo exhibition by Michael Stevenson.
Entitled The Smiles Are Not Smiles , the exhibition
comprises of a major new sculptural installation. The Smiles
Are Not Smiles is based on events surrounding the 1978
inaugural exhibition of the Tony Shafrazi Gallery - this gallery
began life in Tehran.
In the early 1970's Tony Shafrazi was better known as the infamous
perpetrator of the graffiti attack on Picasso's Guernica. A
few years later Shafrazi had taken on a new role - that of art
adviser to the Peacock Throne. With the inflation of oil prices
in the 1970's the Shah had become one of the wealthiest people
on the planet. As he began to assemble a 20th century art collection
his power expanded into the art market. In Tehran he built a
museum to house this collection. The Museum epitomized the Shah's
modern Iranian state, the collection was therefore essentially
Western: from Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism, Pop and
Conceptual Art.
In 1978, on the back of this promising new market, Shafrazi
opened his own commercial gallery in a small Tehran shopfront.
The inaugural exhibition: Gold Bricks by Zadik Zadikian was,
as the title suggests, a piece consisting of stacked, gold-leafed
bricks. At the same time the Shah's grip on the country was
loosening. Zadikian's opening was accompanied by waves of rioting
- the onset of revolution.
Looting followed the riots, the bricks were lost and gallery
was closed. All that remained as testimony to the exhibition
was the invitation card (which unwittingly announces the date
of the revolution) and one critic's observation: 'The piece
glowed like a shattered chain in the Persian sunlight, having
no beginning and no end'.
In the 1980's Shafrazi went on to run one of the most successful
galleries in New York, ironically enough championing graffiti
art.
The Smiles Are Not Smiles unravels the
aspirations of an expanding art market by presenting this earlier
example of global free enterprise along with the conditions
necessary to underpin it. Set amongst the familiar 20th century
art theme of revolution, the piece subjects an ill-prepared
sector of the artworld to the larger revolutionary moment.
The Smiles Are Not Smiles will see Stevenson
fabricate the Zardikian piece (but in a semi-looted state).
Portions of the Tehran shopfront will also be re-constructed,
including the door which will be hung at the entry to the Vilma
Gold gallery space. As the viewer moves through the foyer towards
the door the prop-like construction of the piece will begin
to reveal itself.
The Smiles Are Not Smiles
can be seen as a continuation of Michael Stevenson's enquiry
into the complexities that underpin the economic life of the
art world. In an ongoing project Stevenson tells the little-known
tale of the destitute Scottish artist Ian Fairweather who, whilst
living in Australia during the 1950s, attempted to return to
Britain by non-monetary means. This included a raft voyage and
deportation (the latter of which was paid for with hard labor).
Through the re-telling of this story, Stevenson's work drew
out the interlaced poetic and economic aspects of so-called
'primitive' and 'developed' cultures. The art community, as
a long standing conduit between public and private interests,
will be the basis of Stevenson's forthcoming project at Museum
Abteiberg in Mönchengladbach. Here his attention will be
directed toward the founding of the museum - a signature piece
of post-modern architecture - and the attempts to convince a
significant Italian collector to generously donate his private
collection of Minimalist works to the museum. A penthouse apartment
in the tower of the museum was the collector's final request.
The dilemma for the museum was then how to render civic architecture
without expressing this confusion of public and private space.
Michael Stevenson was born in New Zealand and now lives and
works in Berlin. His work has been exhibited widely in both
museums and galleries. In 2003 Michael Stevenson represented
New Zealand at the 50 th Venice Biennale with his installation,
This is the Trekka. Forthcoming solo museum presentations have
been scheduled at the NAK, Aachen, Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach,
CCA Wattis Institue, San Francisco and Queensland Art Gallery,
Brisbane, Australia. A publication will accompany the Mönchengladbach
project.
For further information or images please contact Sarah McCrory:
+44(0) 20 8981 3344 or: sarah@vilmagold.com |
Installation view
The Smiles are not Smiles, 2005
Michael Stevenson
Installation view
The Smiles are not Smiles, 2005
Michael Stevenson
Installation view
The Smiles are not Smiles, 2005
Michael Stevenson
Michael Stevenson
The Smiles are not Smiles, 2005
200 x teracotta bricks: false goldleaf, gold size, shellac
201 x chipboard floor tiles: acrylic, oil paint and varnish
2 x casino doors: gold anodised aluminium frame, brass handles,
glass,
hydraulic closers, hinges 1 x theatre light: 2000w lamp with
adjustable focus, warm gel, stand, various debris
600 x 600 x 300 cm
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